BRTS has 8,000 smart card holders

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 20

Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) authorities have sold more than 8,000 smart cards to daily passengers within a week. According to officials, more than 700 cards are being sold daily. The BRTS buses record around 12,000 passengers daily.

The smart card holders don’t need to get paper ticket as they can punch the card before boarding the bus.

Gurjit Singh Sondhi, a passenger, said, “I travel daily from the bus stand to Khalsa College. Earlier, we had to stand in queues to get tickets. Now, we can just punch the smart card to enter or exit station. It is very useful. It is easy to use and also saves time.”

Inderjit Singh Chawla, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), BRTS, said,“ We observed that ticket windows had very long queues. So we launched the smart card. These cards are in high demand as ride becomes more convenient for the passengers.”

The BRTS authorities have also launched a mobile application to track the buses, locate nearby stations, get tickets and recharge smart cards. The service is free till April so this application is not useful for the passengers for now.

It is worth mentioning here that the metro bus service is getting a good response from residents, especially students and workers, who prefer metro buses to other modes of transportation.

Officials say that 50,000 to 60000 people travel by metro buses every day.